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Fermi Inc on Monday said it has signed deals with a Hyundai Motor Group Ltd subsidiary and another South Korean firm for nuclear development at Project Matador, its planned power grid. The Amarillo, Texas-based real estate investment trust is focused on data centres, powered by the proposed grid development. It has said Matador will have battery energy storage and supply up to 11 gigawatts, drawing on natural gas, solar and nuclear power. Fermi added on Monday that Matador will be the ‘world’s largest grid’ supplying ‘America’s first clean new nuclear power’ as it announced two new contracts, of which no financial details were disclosed. Fermi shares jumped 13% to $25.20 on Monday morning in London, and were up 6.2% at $25.00 in the New York pre-market. They had closed up 19% to $23.54 in New York on Friday. Fermi listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and the London Main Market at the beginning of the month, in what the company called the first concurrent IPO in New York and London. The US firm on Monday said it has inked a front-end engineering design contract with Seoul-based Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, part of the Hyundai Motor Group, for four AP100 nuclear reactors. Fermi sees this extending to a long-term partnership, expecting a full engineering, procurement and construction agreement with Hyundai E&C in early 2026. Separately, Changwon, South Korea-based heavy industries firm Doosan Enerbility Co Ltd has entered a memorandum of understanding, Fermi said, for ‘long-lead-time nuclear equipment (reactor pressure vessels and steam generators) amid a convoluted supply chain’. The contract news comes amid US President Donald Trump’s state tour of Asia. Trump arrived in Japan on Monday and is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday. Fermi emphasised the timing of its ‘historic nuclear deals ahead of President Trump’s Seoul visit’. According to Fermi, Hyundai E&C’s Chief Executive Hanwoo Lee noted Matador’s location next to the ‘historic’ Pantex nuclear weapons facility, and commented: ‘Our firm commitment to American nuclear power starts with Fermi America, where we will show the world that nuclear can and will once again be successfully built in the United States.’ Fermi Chief Executive Toby Neugebauer said the commitment from its two new partners will allow Fermi to supply ‘nuclear power at the velocity and scale the president demands and the US requires.’ ‘Working with our allies, who have successfully constructed multiple large scale nuclear projects on time and on budget across the globe, is exactly the kind of expertise required for America to win this race.’ Neugebauer co-founded Fermi with Rick Perry, a former Texas state governor and Trump’s energy secretary from 2017 to 2019. Neugebauer also founded now-bankrupt financial startup GloriFi, whose backers included Republican Party member Vivek Ramaswamy and Palantir Technologies Inc CEO Peter Thiel. Fermi claims to be ‘a new model for US energy and intelligence dominance - pairing privately financed infrastructure with the reliability and scale of commercial nuclear energy.’ Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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